Apocalypse Now (1975) movie script

The opening scene :

THE END BY THE DOORS

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land
Lost in a romance...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

Hotel room in Saigon :

WILLARD (v.o.)

"Saigon, shit. I'm still only in Saigon. Every time I think I'm going to
wake up back in the jungle. When I was home after my first tour,
it was worse. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing...
I hardly said a word to my wife until I said yes to a divorce.
When I was here I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I
could think of was getting back into the jungle.
I've been here a week now. Waiting for a mission, getting
softer. Every minute I stay in this room I get weaker. And every minute
Charlie squats in the bush he gets stronger.
Each time I look around the walls move in a little tighter.

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins
they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. "

Two soldiers approach the hotel room :

SOLDIER
"Captain Willard ? Are you in there ?"

WILLARD
"Yeah."

WILLARD (v.o.)
"It was a real choice mission, and when it was
over, I'd never want another."

WILLARD
"Whaddya want ?"

SOLDIER
"Are you all right Captain ?"

WILLARD
"How does it look like ?"

SOLDIER
"Captain Willard of 505 battalion, 173rd Airborne,
assigned SOG ?"

WILLARD
"Hey buddy, are you gonna shut the door ?"

SOLDIER
"We have orders to escort you to the airfield."

WILLARD
"What are the charges ?"

SOLDIER
"Sir ?"

WILLARD
"What I did ?"

SOLDIER
"There's no charges, Captain. You have orders to report
to ComSec intelligence in Nha Trang."

WILLARD
"Nha Trang ?"

SOLDIER
"That's right. Come on captain, you still have a
few hours to get cleaned up.
Captain ?
Dave, give me a hand.
Come on captain, let's take a shower. We'll
gonna take a shower, in we go ..."

In Nha Trang :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn't even know
it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked
through the war like a main circuit cable and plugged straight into
Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel
Walter E. Kurtz's memory, any more than being back in Saigon
was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling
my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine."

In the briefing room :

COLONEL LUCAS
"Come on in.. At ease. Want a cigarette ?"

WILLARD
"No, thank you sir."

LUCAS
"Captain, have you ever seen this gentleman before ? Met the
general or myself ?"

WILLARD
"No, sir. Not personally."

LUCAS
"You have worked a lot on your own, haven't you ?"

WILLARD
"Yes, sir. I have."

LUCAS
"Your report specify intelligence, counter-intelligence,
with ComSec I Corps."

WILLARD
"I'm not presently disposed to discuss these operations, sir."

LUCAS
"Did you not work for the CIA in I Corps ?"

WILLARD
"No, sir."

LUCAS
"Did you not assasinate a government tax collector in
Quang Tri province, June 19th, 1968 ? Captain ?"

WILLARD
"Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would
I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in
fact exist, sir."

GENERAL CORMAN
"I thought we'd have a bite of lunch while we talk. I hope
you brought a good appetite with you.
You have a bad hand there, are you wounded ?"

WILLARD
"A little fishing accident on R&R, sir."

CORMAN
"Fishing on R&R... But you're feeling fit, ready
for duty ?"

WILLARD
"Yes, general. Very much so sir."

CORMAN
"Let's see what we have here... roast beef and...,
usually is not bad. Try some Jerry, pass it around.
Save a little time when we'll pass both ways. Captain,
I don't know how you feel about this shrimp, but if you'll
eat it, you never have to prove your courage in any
other way... I'll take a piece here ..."

LUCAS
"Captain, you heard of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz ?"

WILLARD
"Yes, sir, I've heard the name."

LUCAS
"Operations officer, 5th Special forces."

CORMAN
"Luke, would you play that tape for captain, please.
Listen carefully."

ON TAPE
"October 9th, 0430 hours, sector PBK."

LUCAS
"This was monitored out of Cambodia. This has been verified
as colonel Kurtz's voice."

COLONEL KURTZ (on tape)
" I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my
dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a
straight razor, and surviving. "

ON TAPE
"11th transmission, December 30th, 0500 hours, sector KZK."

KURTZ (on tape)
" We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig, cow after
cow, village after village, army after army. And they call me an
assasin. What do you call it when the assasins accuse
the assasin ? They lie.. they lie and we have to be merciful
for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. How I hate them..."

CORMAN
"Walt Kurtz was one of the most outstanding officers this country
has ever produced. He was a brilliant and outstanding in every way
and he was a good man too. Humanitarian man, man of wit, of humor.
He joined the Special forces. After that his ideas, methods have
become unsound... Unsound."

LUCAS
"Now he's crossed to Cambodia with his Montagnard army, who
worship the man, like a god, and follow every order however ridiculous."

CORMAN
"Well, I have some other shocking news to tell you. Colonel
Kurtz was about to be arrested for murder."

WILLARD
"I don't follow sir. Murdered who ?"

LUCAS
"Kurtz had ordered executions of some Vietnamese intelligence
agents. Men he believed were double agents. So he took
matters into his own hands."

CORMAN
"Well, you see Willard... In this war, things get confused
out there, power, ideals, the old morality, and practical
military necessity. Out there with these natives it must be
a temptation to be god. Because there's a conflict in
every human heart between the rational and the irrational,
between good and evil. The good does not always triumph.
Sometimes the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called
the better angels of our nature. Every man has got a
breaking point. You and I have. Walter Kurtz has reached his.
And very obviously, he has gone insane."

WILLARD
"Yes sir, very much so sir. Obviously insane."

LUCAS
"Your mission is to proceed up to Nung river in a Navy
patrol boat. Pick up colonel Kurtz' path at Nu Mung Ba,
follow it, learn what you can along the way. When you find
colonel infiltrate his team by whatever means available and
terminate the colonel's command."

WILLARD
"Terminate ? The colonel ?"

CORMAN
"He's out there operating without any decent restraint.
Totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct.
And he is still in the field commanding his troops."

CIVILIAN
"Terminate with extreme prejudice."

LUCAS
"You understand captain... , that this operation does
not exist, nor will it ever exist."

In helicopter :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"How many people had I already killed? There was those six that I know
about for sure. Close enough to blow their last breath in my
face. But this time it was an American and an officer. That wasn't
supposed to make any difference to me, but it did. Shit...charging a
man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding
tickets in the Indy 500. I took the mission. What the hell else
was I gonna do? But I didn't know what I'd do when I found him."

In boat :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"I was being ferried down the coast in a Navy PBR, a type of
plastic patrol boat, pretty common sight on the rivers. They
said it was a good way to pick up information without drawing lot
of attention. That was OK, I needed the air and the time.
Only problem was I wouldn't be alone."

CLEAN
"Morning captain."

WILLARD (v.o.)
"The crew was mostly just kids, rock and rollers with one foot in
their graves"

WILLARD
"How old are you ?"

CLEAN
"Seventeen."

WILLARD (v.o.)
"The machinist, the one they called Chef, was from New Orleans.
He was rapped too tight for Vietnam, probably rapped too tight
for New Orleans. Lance on the forward 50's was a famous
surfer from the beaches south of LA. You look at him
and you wouldn't believe he ever fired a weapon in his whole
life. Clean, Mr. Clean, was from some South Bronx shithole.
Light and space of Vietnam really put the zap on his head.
Then there was Phillips, the Chief. It might have been my
mission, but it sure as shit was Chief's boat."

CHIEF
"There are about two points where we can draw enough
water to get into the Nung river. They're both hot, belong
to Charlie."

WILLARD
"Don't worry about it."

Willard offers Chief a cigarette :

CHIEF
"Don't smoke. You know, I've pulled a few special ops in
here. About six months ago, I took a man who was going up
past the bridge at Do Lung. ... He was regular Army too.
Heard he shot himself in the head."

RADIO DJ
"Good morning Vietnam. This is Zack Johnson on AFVN.
It's about 82 degrees in downtown Saigon and right now
very humid. And we have a important message for all GI's
living off-base from the mayor of Saigon. He'd like you to
hang your laundry indoors, instead of on the windows.
The mayor wants you to keep Saigon beautiful...
And now here's another blast from the past coming out to
Big Cind, all alone in the mantle room out there with the First
Battalion Thirty-fifth Infantry, and dedicated by the fire team
at An Khe to their groupie CO Fred the Head: The Rolling
Stones' Satisfaction."

We see Lance waterskiing behind the boat :

CHEF
"Hang on Lance !"

LANCE
"Sayonara !"

Willard starts reading Kurtz' dossier :

MLPJC - 177TS007

TO: WILLARD, BENJAMIN L., Cpt. USA
0-1305301
U.S. Armed Forces Intelligence Hq.
Nha Trang

SUBJECT: Special Warfare Information, KURTZ, WALTER E., Col., Special Forces

1946 Graduates West Point; second in Class; third-generation appointee.
Completes Basic Training, Advanced Infantry Training, Fort Gordon, Georgia.

47-48 Assigned, West Berlin, U.S. Sector Command, G-1 (Plans)
Promoted 1st Lt.

49-50 Masters Degree, Harvard University, History (Thesis: The Phillipines
Insurrection: American Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia, 1898-1905.)

50-51 Assigned General Staff, U.S. Command, Seoul, Korea. Tours combat zones,
Division-Evaluation Team. Requests transfer to Intelligence, returned U.S.
for special training, Ft. Holabird and Washington.
(Marries, Janet Anderson, 14 June 1951.)
Returns to active duty, C-2, Seoul; Debriefs and evaluates information
from American agents returning from Northern missions.
Promoted Captain.

WILLARD (v.o.)
"At first, I thought they handed me the wrong dossier. I couldn't
believe they wanted this man dead. Third generation West
Point, top of his class. Korea, Airborne. About a thousand decorations.
Etc, etc... I'd heard his voice on the tape and it really put a hook
in me. But I couldn't connect up that voice with this man. Like they
said he had an impressive career. Maybe too impressive... I mean
perfect. He was being groomed for one of the top slots of the
corporation. General, Chief of Staff, anything... In 1964 he returned
from a tour of advisory command in Vietnam and things started to
slip. The report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Lyndon Johnson
was restricted. Seems they didn't dig what he had to tell them. During
the next few months he made three requests for transfer to airborne
training in Fort Benning, Georgia. And he was finally accepted.
Airborne ? He was 38 years old. Why the fuck would he do that ?
1966 he joined the Special forces, returns to Vietnam ..."

There are sounds of explosions in the distance :

CHEF
"Hey, what'_s that ?"

WILLARD
"Arch light. B-52 strike."

CHEF
"Every time I hear that something terrible happens."

CLEAN
"Charlie don't never see 'em or hear 'em. Concussion suck the air outta ya
damn lungs.."

CHEF
"Something terrible is going to happen."

CLEAN
"Smoke !

CHEF
"Secondaries burning."

CHIEF
"Hueys over there ! A lots of Hueys."

WILLARD
"Let's have a look Chief."

In village :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"It was the AirCav, First of the Ninth, our escorts to the
mouth of the Nung river. But they were supposed to be waiting
for us another 30 kilometers ahead. Well, Air Mobile, those boys just
couldn't stay put. First of the Ninth was an old cavalry division
that had cashed in its horses for choppers, and gone tear-assing
around 'Nam, looking for the shit. They've given Charlie a few
surprises in their time here. What they were mopping up now
hadn't even happened an hour ago."

A TV crew is filming the attack :

DIRECTOR
"Don't look at the cameras, don't look at the cameras...
Go on through... Don't look at the cameras.. Go by just like
you're fighting..."

WILLARD
"Where can I find the CO ?"

SOLDIER
"He's over there ."

WILLARD
"Captain Willard. I carry priority papers from ComSec Intelligence.
I understand that Nha Trang has briefed you of requirements of my
mission."

LIEUTENANT COLONEL KILGORE
"What mission ? I haven't heard from Nha Trang."

WILLARD
"Sir, your unit is supposed to escort us into Nung."

KILGORE
"Well, we'll see what we can do about that. But stay out
of my way."

Kilgore walks to a group of dead VC :

KILGORE
"What we have here... Two of spades, three of spades,
four of diamonds, six of clubs, ace of spades. Isn't one
worth a Jack in the whole bunch..."

LANCE
"Hey Captain, what's that ?"

WILLARD
"Death cards."

LANCE
"What ?"

WILLARD
"Death cards. Lets Charlie know who did this."

A depressed looking soldier sits in the ground :

KILGORE
"Cheer up son."

Vietnamese cicilians are being evacuated :

MEGAPHONE
"We are hear to extend a welcome hand for those of you who
wish to return to arms of South-Vietnamese government...
This area is controlled by Vietcong and North-Vietnamese..."

Kilgore walks to a wounded VC :

KILGORE
"Hey what's this ? What is this ?"

SOLDIER
"This man is hurt pretty bad, sir. About the only thing that
is holding his guts in, sir, is that pot lid."

KILGORE
"What you gotta say ?"

SOUTH-VIETNAMESE SOLDIER
"This man is dirty VC. He wants water ? He can drink
paddy water."

KILGORE
"Get out of here ! Gimme that canteen.
Get outta here or I kick your fucking ass !
Any man brave enough to fight with his guts strapped
in can drink from my canteen any day."

SOLDIER
"Hey colonel, I think one of those sailors is Lance
Johnson, the surfer."

KILGORE
"Are you sure ?"

Kilgore walks to Lance, completely forgetting the wounded VC :

KILGORE
"What's your name sailor ?"

LANCE
"Gunner's mate 3rd class L. Johnson, sir."

CLEAN
"Gunner's mate 3rd class ..."

KILGORE
"Lance Johnson the surfer ?"

LANCE
"Yes, sir."

KILGORE
"It's an honor to meet you Lance. I've admired your noseriding for
years. I like your cutback too. I think you have the best cutback
there is."

LANCE
"Thank you, sir."

KILGORE
"You can cut out that sir crap, Lance, I'm Bill Kilgore, I'm a goofy foot."
These guys with you ?"

Kilgore introduces Lance to some of his men :

KILGORE
"Mike from San Diego, Johnny from Malibu. Pretty solid surfers,
none of us aren't anywhere near your class though. We
do a lot of surfing here. I like to finish operations early. We fly
to Vung Dao for evening. Have you been riding since you
came here ?"

LANCE
"No way."

In the battlefield, a priest is holding a Holy Communion :

PRIEST
"Let us pray..."

Evening, a BBQ party :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Kilgore had a pretty good day for himself. They choppered
in t-bones and beer and turned the LZ into a beach party.
The more they tried to make it just like home, the more they
made everybody miss it."

KILGORE
"I want my meat rare, rare but not cold."

WILLARD (v.o.)
"He wasn't a bad officer, I guess. He loved his boys and they
felt safe with him. He was one of those guys that had that
weird light around him. You just knew he wasn't gonna get
so much as a scratch here."

KILGORE
"What happened to your mission, captain ? Did Nha
Trang forget all about you ?"

WILLARD
"Sir, two places we can get into the river. Here and here. It's
pretty wide delta but these are the only two spots I'm really
sure of."

KILGORE
"That village your pointing at is kinda hairy, Willard."

WILLARD
"What do you mean hairy, sir ?"

KILGORE
"It's hairy. Got some pretty heavy ordnance there. I lost a few recon
ships there now and again. Is that goddamn village Vin Drin Dop
or Lop ? Damn gook names all sound the same.
Mike, do you know anything about that point at Vin Drin Dop ?"

MIKE
"That's a fantastic peak. "

KILGORE
"Peak ?"

MIKE
"About six feet. It got both the long right with left slide.
It's unbelieveable, it's just Tube City..."

KILGORE
" Well why the hell didn't you tell me that before ? There aren't any
good peaks in this whole, shitty country. It's all goddamn beach break."

MIKE
"It's really hairy in there,sir. That's where we lost McDonnel
- they shot the hell out of us. That's Charlie's point."

WILLARD
"Sir, we can go there tomorrow at dawn. There's always
a good off-shore breeze in the morning."

CHIEF
"We may not be able to get the boat in. The river may be too
shallow."

KILGORE
" We'll pick your boat up and put it down like a baby, right
where you want it. This is First of the Ninth, Air Cav,son- airmobile.
I can take that point and hold it as long as I like -- and you can
get anywhere you want up that river that suits you, young captain.
Hell, a six foot peak.

You take a gunship back to division -- Mike, take Lance with you -- let
him pick out a board, and bring me my Yater Spoon -- the eight six."

MIKE
"I don't know, sir -- it's -- it's --"

KILGORE
" What is it soldier?

MIKE
"It's pretty hairy in there - it's Charlie's point..."

KILGORE
"Charlie don't surf !"

In the landing zone :

CHEF
"Hey jesus, Clean. You ain't gonna believe this. Look."

CLEAN
"Hey man, they're picking up the boat."

KILGORE
"How you feeling Timmy ?"

TIMMY
"Like a mean motherfucker, sir."

KILGORE
"All right son, let it rip."

In the helicopter :

KILGORE
"I've never been used to the lighter board. I can't get used
to it. Do you prefer heavier or light board ?"

LANCE
"Heavier."

KILGORE
"Really ? I thought all the young guys like lighter boards."

LANCE
"You can't ride the nose..."

PILOT
"We've got it spotted."

KILGORE
"Put on heading 270, assume attack formation."

PILOT
"That's a roger. Ok, we're going in."

KILGORE
"We'll come in low, out of the rising sun, and about a mile out,
we'll put on the music... "

LANCE
"Music ?"

KILGORE
" Yeah, I use Wagner -- scares the hell
out of the slopes! My boys love it !"

LANCE
"Hey, they're gonna play music."

CHEF
"Why do all you guys sit on your helmets?"

SOLDIER
"So we don't get our balls blown off."

The choppers arrive at their target :

KILGORE
"Put on psch-war operations, make it loud.
This is Romeo Foxtrot. Shall we dance ?"

Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries starts blasting away from the speakers
attached to the helicopters.
The choppers start firing :

CLEAN
"Run Charlie !"

PILOT
"We've spotted a large weapon down below. We're going to check
it out."

They destroy a machine gun :

KILGORE
"Outstanding, red team, outstanding. Get you a case of
beer for that."

PILOT
"We're over the village right now, I think I see a vehicle down,
I_m gonna check it out."

KILGORE
"Well done, hawks, well done.
Put some 20 mike-mike vulcan right along that
tree line, just rippin' the shit out of 'em."

PILOT
"Got a vehicle down the bridge, a 50 caliber onboard..."

KILGORE
"Clean the area, I'm coming on myself...
don't these people ever give up?"

Destroys a car on the bridge :

SOLDIER
"Nice shot Bill."

A flare gets in Kilgore's chopper :

KILGORE
"It's just a flare, get it out, it's just a flare. Everybody all right ?
Lance, are you all right ?"

LANCE
"Fine."

In the village :

SOLDIER
"I'm not going ! I'm not going !"

PILOT
"We got secondaries down there ..."

A wounded soldier lies on the ground :

SOLDIER
"Get the stretches over here... Gimme some morphine.
Where's that chopper ?"

KILGORE
"I want my wounded out there into a hospital in 15
minutes. I want my men out !"

A vietnamese girl throws a grenade to a helicopter on the ground :

KILGORE
"Fucking savages !"

PILOT
"Holy christ she's a savage... let's get that dink bitch. Get in there
Johnny, ram that right skid up her ass..."

PILOT
"Those trees... We need fire on trees.
Drawing fire, drawing fire - taking hits... Mayday, mayday...
I'm going in - tailrotor is hit. I got control..."

KILGORE
"What do you think ?"

LANCE
"Well, it's really exciting."

KILGORE
"No, no. The waves... Look, breaks both ways, watch, watch.
Six feet..."

On the beach :

SOLDIER
"Incoming !"

SOLDIER
"This place is still pretty hot. Maybe you oughta
surf someplace else."

KILGORE
"What do you know about surfing, Major ? You're from
goddamn New Jersey."

"Come here. Come here ! Change !"

SOLDIER
"Mean right now, sir ?"

KILGORE
"I wanna see how ridable that stuff is. Go change !"

SOLDIER
"It's still pretty hairy out there sir."

KILGORE
"You wanna surf soldier ?"

SOLDIER
"Yes, sir."

KILGORE
"That's good, son. 'Cause you either surf or fight. That clear ?
Now get going. I cover for you. And bring a board for Lance.
Lance, I bet you can't wait to get out there. See, you can break
both ways. One guy can break right, one left simultaneous.
What do you think of that ?"

LANCE
"I think we oughta wait the tide to come up."

KILGORE
"Lance, come here. Look, look... The tide doesn't come
in for six hours. You wanna wait here for six hours ?"

We see two surfers :

KILGORE
"OK fellows, quit hiding. Ok, let's go dickheads."

WILLARD
"Don't you think it's a little risky for R&R ?"

KILGORE
"If I say it's safe to surf this beach, captain - it's safe to
surf this beach. I'm not afraid to surf this place, I'm not
afraid to surf this fucking place."

Kilgore picks up the radio :

KILGORE
"Goddamn, I want that treeline bombed !"

FAC PILOT
"Roger. Big Duke Six, standby."

KILGORE
"Bomb them to stoneage, son."

FAC PILOT
"Hawk One Two, Dove One Three, they need some napalm on that
treeline down there. Can you put it down there ?"

F-5 PILOT
"Roger. We'll suppress some mortar fire off the treeline down there."

FAC PILOT
"Roger. Give all you got and bring all your ships back."

KILGORE
"Don't worry, we'll have this place cleaned up and ready
for us in a jiffy, don't you worry."

FAC PILOT
"Big Duke Six, inbound in 30 seconds. Get your people back and
heads down. This is gonna be a big one."

After the napalm attack :

KILGORE
"You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing
else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm
in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for
twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't
find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know
that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like - victory.

Someday this war is gonna end."

In patrol boat :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Someday this war's gonna end. That would be just fine
with the boys on the boat. They weren't looking for
anything more than a way home. Trouble is, I've been
back there, and I knew that it just didn't exist anymore.
If that's how Kilgore fought the war, I began to wonder
what they really had against Kurtz. It wasn't just insanity
and murder. There was enough of that to go around
for everyone."

CHEF
"I'm not here. I'm walking through the jungle gathering mangoes.
I meet Raquel Welch. I make a nice mango cream pudding.
Kinda spread it around us. Hey captain, I wanna get some mangoes."

WILLARD
"Just don't go out there by yourself. You don't wanna go in
there alone, unless you really know the territory."

LANCE
"Any poisonous snakes around here ?"

CHEF
"Fuck it ! I'm gonna get some mangoes."

Willard and Chef leave the boat :

WILLARD
" Chef ?"

CHEF
"Yes, sir --"

WILLARD
"How come they call you that?"

CHEF
"Call me what, sir?"

WILLARD
"Chef -- is that 'cause you like
mangoes an' stuff?"

CHEF
"No, sir -- I'm a real chef, sir
-- I'm a sauciere --"

WILLARD
"A sauciere --"

CHEF
"Yes, sir -- See, I come from New Orleans -- I was raised to
be a sauciere.. a great sauciere."

WILLARD
"What's a sauciere?"

CHEF
"We specialize in sauces. Has to be a mango tree here somewhere...
I was supposed to go to Paris, study at the Escoffier school. Then I got
orders for my physical. Hell I joined the Navy, heard they had better food.
Cook school -- that did it."

WILLARD
"Oh yeah, how?

CHEF
"They lined us all up in front of a hundred yards of prime rib --
magnificent meat, beautifully marbled.. Then they started
throwing it in these big cauldrons, all of it -- boiling.
I looked in, an' it was turning gray. I couldn't fucking believe
that one. I went into radio school..."

Willard hears something :

CHEF
"What is it ? Enemy ?"

Suddenly a tiger appears from the jungle. Willard
and Chef start running back to boat, Chef screaming :

CHEF
"It's a tiger, a fucking tiger !

CHIEF
"Let's go !"

CHEF
"Never get outta boat..."

CHIEF
"What happened, how many is it ?"

CHEF
"A fucking tiger, fucking tiger... I don't wanna take this goddamn shit
man... I didn't come here for this, I don't fucking need this. I didn't get
outta the eighth grade for this, man..All I wanted to do is fucking cook, I
just wanted to learn to fucking cook. Allright, It's allright, it's gonna be
all right... never get outta boat... bye tiger, bye tiger..."

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamn right. Unless you
were going all the way. Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole
fucking program. How did that happen? What did he see here
that first tour? 38 fucking years old. If he joined the Green Berets,
there was no way you'd ever get above Colonel. Kurtz knew
what he was giving up. The more I read and began to
understand, the more I admired him. His family and
friends couldn't understand it, and they couldn't talk him
out of it. He had to apply three times and he had to put
up with a ton of shit, but when he threatened to resign,
they gave it to him. The next youngest guy in his class was
half his age. They must have thought he was some
far-out old man humping it over that course. I did it when
I was 19 and it damn near wasted me. A tough
motherfucker. He finished. He could have gone for General,
but he went for himself instead."

CHEF (writes a letter)
"Dear Eva. This day was really a new one. I almost got
eaten alive by a fucking tiger. Really unfuckingbelieveable,
you know. We are taking this guy, captain Willard, up the river.
he hasn't told us yet where we're taking him ..."

WILLARD (v.o.)
"October 1967 on special assignment, Con Tum province.
Kurtz staged operation Arch Angel with combined local
forces. Rated a major success. He received no official
clearence. He just thought it up and did it. What balls.
They were gonna nail his ass to the floorboards for that
but after the press got hold of it they promoted him to full
colonel instead. Oh man, the bullshit piled up so fast in
Vietnam, you needed wings to stay above it."

The boat approaches a military base near the river :

CLEAN
"This sure is a bizarre sight in middle of this
shit. Are they expecting us this time ?"

WILLARD
"Damn if I know."

The crew leaves the boat :

CLEAN
"Hau Phat. You ever been up here Chef ? Yo man,
check out these bikes, man. Suzuki, that's a
good one.

This must be the guy...
Three drums of diesel fuel, PBR..."

SERGEANT
"Come on move, we don't have time, one hour that's all..
Whaddya want ?"

CHEF
"Can I get Panama Red with it ?"

SERGEANT
"Yeah, I'll get you Panama Red. Destination ?"

CLEAN
"I don't have a destination."

WILLARD
"Sergeant, these guys are with me. Destination is classified.
I carry priority papers from ComSec Intelligence..."

SERGEANT
"OK, right sir. Listen it's really a big night - eight bucks for that camo-"

Willard grabs him :

WILLARD
"Just give us some fuel !"

SERGEANT
"You got it. Hey captain, I'm really sorry for tonight.
It's really bad over here. Just take this over there to the desk
and you got it. Hey listen, would you
guys like some seats, press-box seats, for the show ? You
want those ? Playboy bunnies.
Hey captain, on the house, no hard feelings ?"

A helicopter with playboy markings lands :

MANAGER
"How you doing out there ? Hello to all you who work so goddamn
hard for opearation Brute Force. Hello all you paratroopers out
there, and the marines, and the sailors. I wanna let you know we're
proud of you, we know how tough and hard it'_s been. And to prove
it we're gonna give you entertainment we know you_re gonna like.
Miss August, miss Sandra Beatty; Miss May, miss Terry Teray;
and the playmate of the year, miss Carrie Foster."

The bunnies start dancing :

CHEF
"I'm here babe, I'm here..."

LANCE
"You fucking bitch !"

CLEAN
"Take it off."

The show ends in chaos and the bunnies make a speedy exit :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Charley didn't get much USO. He was dug in too deep or
moving too fast. His idea of great R&R was cold rice and
a little rat meat. He had only two ways home: death,
or victory."

In boat :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"No wonder Kurtz put a weed up command's ass.
The war was being run by a bunch of four-star clowns
who were going to end up giving the whole circus away."

CHEF
"Can you believe that ? Have to come over here to
find her ?"

Another patrol boat approaches :

CLEAN
"Chicken time !"

CHIEF
"Is that you Lazarro ? "

A soldier in another boat throws a flare:

CHIEF
"Fire in the canopy !"

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Late summer-autumn 1968 :
Kurtz's patrols in the highlands coming under frequent
ambush. The camp started falling apart...November: Kurtz orders
the assassination of three Vietnamese men and one
woman. Two of the men were Colonels in the South
Vietnamese army. Enemy activity in his old sector dropped
off to nothing. Guess he must have hit the right
four people. The army tried one last time to bring him back
into the fold. And if he pulled over, it all would have been forgotten.
But he kept going, and he kept winning it his way, and they called
me in. They lost him. He was gone. Nothing but rumors and
rambling intelligence, mostly from captured VC. The VC knew
his name by now, and they were scared of him. He and his men
were playing hit and run all the way into Cambodia."

WILLARD
"How long has that kid been in this boat ?"

CHIEF
"Seven months."

WILLARD
"He's really specialized in busting my balls."

CHIEF
"Very possible he thinks the same of you."

WILLARD
"Oh yeah ? What do you think Chief ?"

CHIEF
"I don't think. My orders are I'm not supposed to know
where I'm taking this boat, so I don't. But one look at you
and I know it's gonna be hot, wherever it is."

WILLARD
"We're going up river about 75 klicks above the Do
Lung bridge."

CHIEF
"That's Cambodia, captain."

WILLARD
"That's classified. We're not supposed to be in Cambodia
but that's where I'm going. You just get me close to my
destination and I'll cut you and the crew loose."

CHIEF
"All right, captain."

Willard reads a letter Kurtz has sent to his son :

"Dear son,
I'm afraid that both you and your mother would have been
worried for not hearing from me these past weeks. But my
situation here has become a difficult one. I've been officially
accused of murder by the army. The alleged victims were four
Vietnamese double agents. We spent months uncovering and
accumalating evidence. When absolute proof was completed,
we acted, we acted like soldiers. The charges are unjustified.
They are in fact, under the circumstances of this conflict
quite completely insane. In a war there are many moments for
compassion and tender action. There are many moments for
ruthless action, for what is often called ruthless, what may in many
and many circumstances be the only clarity; seeing clearly
what there is to be done and doing it directly, quickly, aware... ,
looking at it.
I would trust you to tell your mother what you choose about
this letter. As for the charges, I'm unconcerned. I'm beyond
their timid, lying morality. And so I'_m beyond caring.

You have all my faith.

Your loving father."

Chef and Clean are fighting :

CHIEF
"Chef, knock it off. Give it a break. What do you think I
said ? And give your jaws a rest. This ain't the Army,
you are sailor. Get off that grizzly army looking shit
and stop smoking dope, you hear me.
Lance, what's with all the green paint ?"

LANCE
"Camouflage."

CHIEF
"How's that ?

LANCE
"So they can't see me, they're everywhere Chief."

CHIEF
"Aha... I want you to stay awake there, man. You got a job
to do.

Sampan up the port bow, let's take a look. Clean on the 60,
Chef the 16. Clean ! Get on that 60 !"

WILLARD
"What's up, Chief."

CHIEF
"A jugboat, captain. We'll gonna take a routine check."

WILLARD
"Let's forget it now... Let it go."

CHIEF
"These boats are running supplies on the delta, captain.
I'm gonna take a look."

WILLARD
"Chief, my mission got priority here. Hell, you wouldn't
be on this part of the river if it wasn't for me."

CHIEF
"Until we reach your destination you're just
along for the ride."

CHEF
"Throw the rope asshole."

CHIEF
"Let's bring it over ...
Look at that bow, bring the people over here."

CHEF
"Come on, hurry up motherfucker, move it !
Go gook."

CHIEF
"Keep your eyes open Clean."

CLEAN
"I got you Chief."

CHEF
"OK, they're OK."

CHIEF
"Board it and search it."

CHEF
"Baskets and ducks... fucking bananas... ain't
nothin on it."

CHIEF
"What's wrong with you ? Board it and search it."

CHEF
"There's the goat... some fish..."

CHIEF
"Chef, get on that boat !"

CHEF
"There's nothing on it."

CHIEF
"Get on it !"

CHEF
"All right ! Move it asshole.. mangoes..."

CHIEF
"Check on the rice bags."

CHEF
"Fish, coconuts... rice... here's rice."

CHIEF
"What's in that vegetable basket ? Chef, check
that vegetable basket."

CHEF
"All right... ain't nothing in here."

CHIEF
"What's in the boxes ? Look in that tin can,
that rusty can..."

CHEF
"Just fucking rice, that's all."

CHIEF
"Check the yellow can, she was sitting on it."

Suddenly the Vietnamese girl makes a move towards the basket.
The boat crew starts firing wildly :

CHEF
"Let's kill 'em all !"

CHIEF
"Hold it ! Hold it !"

CHEF
"Let's kill them all... why not ?"

CHIEF
"Clean ?"

CLEAN
"I'm good."

CHIEF
"You OK Lance ?"

CHEF
"Look what she was hiding. See what she was running for.
A fucking puppy."

LANCE
"Give me that dog !"

CHEF
"Fucking mango too, you want that ?"

CHIEF
"Chef, she's moving behind you. She's alive.
Check her out, she's moving behind you.
Check her out."

CHEF
"Goddamn... Clean give me a hand."

CHIEF
"Take it easy. Slow down and take it easy. Is
she breathing Chef ?"

CHEF
"She's hurt, she's bleeding."

CHIEF
"Bring her onboard."

WILLARD
"What are you talking about ?"

CHIEF
"We're taking here to some frendlies, captain.
She's wounded, she's not dead."

WILLARD
"Get off there Chef."

Willard shoots the wounded girl :

CHEF
"Fuck it."

WILLARD
"I told you not to stop. Now let's go."

WILLARD (v.o.)
" It was the way we had over here of living with ourselves.
We'd cut them in half with a machine gun and give them a
bandaid. It was a lie, and the more I saw of them, the more
I hated lies. Those boys were never going to look at me
the same way again. But I felt I knew one or two things
about Kurtz that weren't in the dossier."

The boat arrives to Do Lung bridge :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Do Lung bridge was last army outpost on the Nung river.
Beyond that there was only Kurtz."

CHEF
"Lance, hey Lance. What do you think ?"

LANCE
"It's beautiful."

CHEF
"What's the matter with you ? You're acting
kinda weird."

LANCE
"Hey you know that last tab of acid I was saving.
I dropped it."

CHEF
"You dropped acid ? ... Far out."

LIEUTENANT CARLSON
"Is there a captain Willard onboard ?

WILLARD
"Yeah, who's that ?"

CARLSON
"Lieutenant Carlson, sir. Get that light off me...
I was sent here from Nha Trang with these three
days ago, sir. Expected you here a little sooner.
This is mail for the boat...
You don't know how happy this makes me, sir."

WILLARD
"Why ?"

CARLSON
"Now I can get out of here, if I can find a way...
You're in the asshole of the world, captain !"

CHIEF
"Captain, where you going ?"

WILLARD
"I gotta find somebody - I need some information.
Pick me up the other side of the bridge."

CHIEF
"Somebody go with him."

LANCE
"I go. I wanna go."

Willard and Lance enter the trenches :

WILLARD
"Where can I find your CO ?"

SOLDIER
"You came right to it, you son of a bitch !"

WILLARD
"Lance, get down here !
You still got a commanding officer here ?"

SOLDIER
"Straight up the road there's a concrete fuckin
bunker called Beverly Hills. Where the fuck else
you think it would be ?"

SOLDIER
"Goddamn, you stepped on my face !"

LANCE
"I thought you were dead."

SOLDIER
"Well you thought wrong, dammit !"

SOLDIER (firing wildly his machine gun)
"I told you to stop fucking with me ! You think you're bad..."

WILLARD
"What are you shooting at soldier ?"

SOLDIER
"Gooks. What the fuck you think I'm shooting at...
I'm sorry, sir... There are gooks by the wire. But I
think I killed them all."

SOLDIER
"You ain't shot shit, man. Listen !"

SOLDIER
"Oh shit, he's trying to call his friends. Send in a flare.
You think you're bad..."

SOLDIER
"There's one still beneath them bodies."

WILLARD
"Who's the commanding officer here ?"

SOLDIER
"Ain't you ?
You think you're bad...
Go get the Roach, man ! Get Roach !"

SOLDIER
"He's down by the wire. You need a flare ?"

ROACH
"No. He's close, man. He's real close...
Motherfucker."

WILLARD
"Hey, soldier. Do you know who's in
command here?"

ROACH
"Yeah...."

In the patrol boat :

CLEAN
"Shit ! Hey Chief, man. Two guys just got blown out from
that bridge."

CHIEF
"You hang on man. You're gonna be OK."

CLEAN
"What's that ?"

CHEF
"Mail, man."

CHIEF
"Later with that mail. Watch them trees."

WILLARD
"There's no diesel fuel but I pick up some ammo.
Let's move out."

CHIEF
"Did you find a CO, captain ?"

WILLARD
"There's no fucking CO here. Let's just
get going."

CHIEF
"Which way, captain ?"

WILLARD
"You know which way, Chief."

CHIEF
"You're on your own, captain. You wanna go on ?
Like this bridge : We build it every night. Charlie
blows it right back up again. Just so the generals can
say the road's open. Think about it. Who cares ?"

WILLARD
"Just get us up the river !"

CHIEF
"Chef, on the bow. Clean, on the 60."

The journey continues. Chef hands out the mail :

CHEF
"Shit, you got another one Clean."

CLEAN
"No shit, is that it ?"

CHEF
"That's it for you. Lance, Mr L.B. Johnson, there
you go.."

LANCE
"Far out, man. I've been waiting for this.

CHEF
"I got another one, got a box from Eva."

LANCE (reading)
"Lance, I'm fine. I was on a trip to Disneyland. There can
never be a place like Disneyland, or could there ? Let me
know -
Jim, it's here... really is here."

WILLARD (reading, v.o.)
"There has been a new development regarding your mission
which we must now communicate to you. Months ago a man
was ordered on a mission which was identical to yours. We
have reason to believe that he is now operating with Kurtz.
Saigon was carrying him MIA for his family's sake. They
assumed he was dead. Then they intercepted a letter he
tried to send his wife :

SELL THE HOUSE
SELL THE CAR
SELL THE KIDS
FIND SOMEONE ELSE
FORGET IT
I'M NEVER COMING BACK
FORGET IT

Captain Richard Colby - he was with Kurtz."

LANCE
"Disneyland. Fuck, man, this is better than Disneyland."

Chef reads a newspaper :

CHEF
"Charles Miller Manson ordered the slaughter of all
in a home as a symbol of protest.. hey, that's pretty weird!"

LANCE
"Purple haze ! look."

CLEAN
"I got a tape from my mom."

CHEF
"Eva can't picture me in Vietnam. She pictures me at home
having a beer and watching TV...
Eva is not sure if she can have a relationship with me, you
know. Here I am 13000 fucking miles away trying to keep a
relationship with my ass."

Suddenly the boat comes under an attack.
Clean gets shot :

CHIEF
"Chef, check out Clean ! Captain, he_s hit, he_s hit !
Clean's hit !"

LANCE
"Where did the dog go ? We gotta go back to
get the dog !"

We hear the end of the tape Clean was listening :

TAPE
"... do the right thing. Stay out of the way of the bullets.
And bring your hiney home all in one piece. Because
we love you. Love, Mama."

The journey continues in thick mist :

CHIEF
"Can't see nothing. We're stopping."

WILLARD
"You're not authorized to stop this boat, Chief."

CHIEF
"I said I can't see a thing, captain. I'm stopping
this boat. Ain't risking no more lives."

WILLARD
"I'm in command here, goddamn it ! You
do what i say."

CHIEF
"You see anything Chef ?"

CHEF
"Why don't those fucks attack, man ?
Watch it over here, Chief..."

CHIEF
"Lance, on the 50's."

WILLARD (v.o.)
"He was close. He was real close. I could not see him
yet but I could feel him. As of this boat was being sucked up
river and the water was flowing back to the jungle. Whatever
was going to happen, it was not going to be the way they
called it in Nha Trang."

They come under attack by arrows :

WILLARD
"Chef, it's OK. Quit firing !"

LANCE
"Cut it out ! Quiet !"

WILLARD
"Chief, tell them to hold fire. It's just little sticks.
They're just trying to scare us."

CHIEF
"You got us into this mess and you can't get us out 'cos
you don't know where the hell you're going, do you ?
Do you, you son of a bitch, you fuck !"

Chief is hit by a spear :

CHIEF
"A spear."

Chief dies.

WILLARD
"My mission is to make it up into Cambodia. There's a
Green Beret Colonel up there who's gone insane. I'm
supposed to kill him."

CHEF
"That's fucking typical, shit. Fucking Vietnam mission.
I'm short, and we got to go up there so you can kill one of our own guys.
That's fucking great, that's just fucking great ! That's
fucking crazy. I thought you were going in there to blow
up a bridge, or some fucking railroad tracks or something."

WILLARD
"Sorry..."

CHEF
"No, no wait. We go together. On the boat, we'll
go with you. On the boat . OK ?"

Again they move on, but now it's only Willard,
Chef and Lance :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Part of me was afraid of what I would find and what I would
do when I got there. I knew the risks, or imagined I knew.
But the thing I felt the most, much stronger than
fear, was the desire to confront him."

They meet a group of Montagnards in boats :

WILLARD
"Just keep moving... Lance, keep your hands
away from the gun."

Finally they arrive to Kurtz compound :

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"It's all right, it's all right. You're all being approved."

CHEF
"Ain't coming in there. Them bastards attcked us."

PHOTOJOURNALIST
""Zap 'em wit your siren, man, zap 'em with your siren...

There's mines over there, there's mines over there, and watch
out those goddam monkeys bite, I'll tell ya. Eh, that's a pretty one.
Move in right in towards me... I_m an American ! Yeah, American
civilian. Hi yanks... American, american civilian. It's all right.
And you got the cigarettes, that's what I've been dreaming of."

WILLARD
"Who are you ?"

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Who are you ... ?
I'm a photojournalist. I've covered the war since 64.
I've been in Laos, Cambodia, 'Nam... I_ll tell you
one thing, this boat is a mess, man."

WILLARD
"Who are all these people ?"

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Yeah, well... They think you have come to take him
away. I hope that isn't true."

WILLARD
"Take who away ?"

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Him. Colonel Kurtz. These are all his children, as far
as you can see."

WILLARD
"Could we, uh, talk to Colonel Kurtz?"

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Hey, man, you don't talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The
man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic
sense. I mean sometimes he'll, uh, well, you'll say hello to
him, right? And he'll just walk right by you, and he won't even
notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in
a corner, and he'll say do you know that if is the middle
word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are
losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when
all men doubt you -- I mean I'm no, I can't -- I'm a little man, I'm a little
man, he's, he's a great man. I should have been a pair of ragged claws
scuttling across floors of silent seas -- I mean --"

WILLARD
"Stay with the boat."

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Hey, uh, don't go -- don't go without me, OK? I want to get a picture."

He can be terrible, he can be mean, he can be right. He's fighting
the war. He's a great man. I mean... I wish I had words. I can tell
you the other day he wanted to kill me."

WILLARD
"Why did he want to kill you ?"

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Because I took his picture. He said if I take his picture again -
I'm gonna kill you. And he meant it ! So you just lay it cool, lay
back, dig it... He gets friendly again, really does. But you don't
judge him like an ordinary man.

OK, now watch it. They are americans... americans.
Can you feel the vibe of this place ? Let me take a picture.
Hey, hello... hello. Would you hold it for a minute."

Willard sees a group of american soldiers :

WILLARD
"Colby."

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"The heads. You're looking at the heads. I, uh -- sometimes he
goes too far, you know -- he's the first one to admit it!"

CHEF
"He's gone crazy!"

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Wrong! Wrong! If you could have heard the man, just two days ago,
if you could have heard the man! You going to call him crazy?"

CHEF
"Fucking A!"

WILLARD
"I just want to talk to him."

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Well man, he's gone away. He's gone away. He disappeared
into the jungle with his people..."

WILLARD
"I'll wait for him."

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"... he feels comfortable with his people. He forgets him
with his people. He forgets himself..."

CHEF
"Captain, maybe we should wait back at the boat."

WILLARD
"Ok Chef. We'll go back to the boat for a while."

CHEF
"Stay with Lance."

Willard and Chef return to the boat :

CHEF
"This colonel guy - he's wacko, man. He's worse than crazy.
He's evil. I mean... its fucking Pagan idolitry. Look around.
Shit, he's loco."

WILLARD
"Then you'll help me."

CHEF
"Help you ? Fucking A. I'll help you. I'll do anything to get out of
this joint. We could blow all the assholes away. They're all so
spaced out they wouldn't even know it. I'm not afraid of those
fucking skulls, and altars and shit. I used to think if I died in an
evil place then my soul wouldn't make it to heaven. Well, fuck.
I don't care where it goes as long it ain't here. So, what you
wanna do ? I'll kill the fuck ..."

WILLARD
"No, no. I'm gonna need you right here, Chef. I'll go up with Lance,
scrounge around, check the place out, see if I can find the colonel."

CHEF
"What you want me to do ?"

WILLARD
"Here, take the radio. If I don't get back by 2200 hours,
you call in the airstrike."

CHEF
"Airstrike ?"

WILLARD
"The code is Almighty, coordinates 090264712.. It's
all in here."

Willard and Lance leave the boat :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"Everything I saw told me that Kurtz has gone
insane. The place was full of bodies: North-
Vietnamese, Vietcong, Cambodians.. If I was
still alive, it was because he wanted me that way."

Suddenly Willard is surrounded by a group of Kurtz'
soldiers. They grab him and carry him to a temple -
to meet Colonel Kurtz :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"It smelled like slow death in there, malaria,
nightmares. This was the end of the river allright."

COLONEL KURTZ
"Where are you from Willard ?"

WILLARD
"I'm from Ohio, sir."

KURTZ
"Were you born there ?"

WILLARD
"Yes, sir."

KURTZ
"Whereabouts ?"

WILLARD
"Toledo, sir."

KURTZ
"How far were you from the river ?"

WILLARD
"The Ohio river, sir ? About 200 miles."

KURTZ
"I went down that river when I was a kid. There's a place
in the river.. I can't remember... Must have been a gardenia
plantation at one time. All wild and overgrown now, but about
five miles you'd think that heaven just fell on the earth in the
form of gardenias...
Have you ever considered any real freedoms ? Freedoms -
from the opinions of others... Even the opinions of yourself.
They say why..., Willard, why they wanted to terminate my
command ?"

WILLARD
"I was sent on a classified mission, sir."

KURTZ
"It appears.. that its no longer classified, is it? What did they
tell you ?"

WILLARD
" They told me that you had gone totally insane and that your
methods were unsound."

KURTZ
" Are my methods unsound?"

WILLARD
" I don't see any method at all, sir."

KURTZ
" I expected someone like you. What did you expect?"

Willard only shakes his head :

KURTZ
" Are you an assassin?"

WILLARD
" I'm a soldier."

KURTZ
" You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks
to collect a bill."

Willard is then put in a cage. Later photojournalist comes
to visit him and offers some water and a cigarette :

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Why ? Why would a nice guy like you wanna kill a genius ?
You know that the man really likes you. He likes you, he
really likes you. He's got something in mind for you. Aren't
you curious about that ? I'm curious, I'm very curious. You
curious ?There's something happening out there, man.
You know something, man, I know something that you don't
know. That's right, jack. The man is clear in his mind, but his
soul is mad . Oh yeah. He's dying, I think. He hates all
this, he hates it! But ... the man's ... uh ... he reads poetry out
loud, alright? ... And a voice! A voice. ... He likes you because
you're still alive. He's got plans for you. Nah, nah, I'm not
going to help you, you're going to help him, man. You're going
to help him. I mean, what are they going to say, man, when he's
gone, huh? Because he dies, when it dies, man, when it
dies, he dies. What are they going to say about him? What, are
they going to say, he was a kind man, he was a wise man, he had
plans, he had wisdom? Bullsh-t, man! Am I going to be the one,
that's going to set them straight? Look at me: wrong! ... You!"

It's evening, Chef is sleeping in the boat :

CHEF
"Almost eight hours... I sleep and I dream I'm in this
shitty boat. Fuck - is it been eight hours."

Chef goes to the radio :

CHEF
"Hello Almighty, Almighty, this is PBR Street Gang -
radio check, over."

RADIO
"Street Gang, this is Almighty, standing by, over."

It's raining, Willard sits in his cage. Kurtz comes to
visit him and coldly drops Chef's head in Willard's lap :

WILLARD
"No ! No, oh Christ..."

In the morning Willard is carried again to meet Kurtz.
Kurtz sits in the temple and reads T.S. Eliot's poem
The Hollow Men :

KURTZ
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;"

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"Do you know what the man is saying? Do you? This is dialectics.
It's very simple dialectics. One through nine, no maybes, no
supposes, no fractions -- you can't travel in space, you can't go out
into space, you know, without, like, you know, with fractions -- what
are you going to land on, one quarter, three-eighths -- what are you
going to do when you go from here to Venus or something -- that's
dialectic physics, OK? Dialectic logic is there's only love and hate, you
either love somebody or you hate them."

Kurtz throws a book angrily at him :

PHOTOJOURNALIST
"This is the way the fucking world ends! Look at this fucking shit
we're in, man! Not with a bang, with a whimper. And with a whimper,
I'm fucking splitting, jack!"

Photojournalist leaves :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"On the river, I thought that the minute I looked at him, I'd know what
to do, but it didn't happen. I was in there with him for days, not under
guard - I was free - but he knew I wasn't going anywhere. He knew
more about what I was going to do than I did. If the generals back in
the Trang could see what I saw, would they still want me to kill him?
More than ever probably. And what would his people back home want if
they ever learned just how far from them he'd really gone? He broke
from them and then he broke from himself. I'd never seen a man so
broken up and ripped apart..."

KURTZ
" I've seen horrors...horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call
me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that...But
you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is
necessary to those who do not know what horror means.
Horror. Horror has a face...And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and
moral terrorare your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared.
They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces...Seems
a thousand centuries ago...We went into a camp to innoculate the children.
We left the camp after we had innoculated the children for Polio, and this old
man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went
back there and they had come and hacked off every innoculated arm. There
they were in a pile...A pile of little arms. And I remember...I...I...I cried...
I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I
wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want
to forget. And then I realized...like I was shot...Like I was shot with a
diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead...And I thought:
My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect,
genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were
stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not
monsters...These were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with
their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with
love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that. If I had ten
divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You
have to have men who are moral...and at the same time who are able to
utilize their primordal instincts to kill without feeling...without passion...
without judgement...without judgement. Because it's judgement that
defeats us. "

KURTZ (to Willard)
"I worry that my son might not understand what I've tried to be.
And if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go
to my home and tell my son everything. Everything I did, everything
you saw... Because there is nothing I detest more than the stench
of lies. And if you understand me, Willard, you'll do this for me."

Evening. Kurtz' soldiers and natives are preparing for
a party. Willard is in the patrol boat :

RADIO
"PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty, over...
This is Almighty, standing by, over.
This is Almighty, how do you copy, over..."

Willard leaves the boat and starts going to Kurtz'
temple with a machete :

WILLARD (v.o.)
"They were going to make me a major for this and I wasn't even in their
fucing army any more. Everybody wanted me to do it, him most of all. I
felt like he was up there, waiting for me to take the pain away. He just
wanted to go out like a soldier, standing up, not like some poor, wasted,
rag-assed renegade. Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's who
he really took his orders from anyway. "

Kurtz sits in the temple :

KURTZ (dictates to tape)
"They train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders
won't allow them to write fuck on their airplanes because it's obscene! "

Willard kills Kurtz with a machete, simultaneous the natives
sacrifice a water buffalo and kill it with their machetes .

Kurtz is dying, his final words :

KURTZ
"The horror. The horror..."

Willard find Kurtz' manuscript where he has written :

"Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all."

Willard leaves the temple while the natives bow down. He drops the
machete and so do the natives. Willards grabs Lance along and
they go to the patrol boat :

RADIO
"PBR Street Gang this is Almighty, over.."

Willard switches off the radio. The journey back home starts...

"The horror. The horror..."

T H E E N D

Apocalypse Now (1975)

by John Milius, Francis Coppola.